John Scarborough

John Scarborough is a spirits-industry operator and executive based in Austin, Texas, best known for helping scale Deep Eddy Vodka from a small Austin startup into a national premium brand. He joined Deep Eddy in its early days and served as Chief Financial Officer beginning in 2011, leading operations, financial management, and planning. Over roughly a decade with the company he helped grow revenue from about $1.7 million to more than $140 million, guiding the brand's expansion to over 1.4 million cases annually. He remained CFO through the brand's sale to Heaven Hill Brands and, in February 2016, was appointed President of the Deep Eddy Vodka division — a role he held for about five years post-acquisition.

He earned a BA from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from The University of Texas at Austin (McCombs). Before entering the spirits business, his career included financial and operations leadership roles across the publishing, telecom, and e-commerce industries.

After leaving Deep Eddy in 2021, Scarborough became CEO of Austin-based Ranch Rider Spirits Co., a ready-to-drink cocktail and hard-seltzer maker, having been involved with the brand since near its inception. In March 2021 he was also appointed to the Board of Directors of Still Austin Whiskey Co. (a role he held through roughly 2024), alongside fellow director Rudy Ruiz.

In 2024 he served as a senior advisor to outgoing Pinhook Bourbon CEO Alice Peterson, helping develop the company's growth strategy and raise capital. In January 2025 he was named CEO of Pinhook Bourbon (operating as CJS Beverage LLC, which also produces Rye + Sons), following a $10.5 million equity raise from private equity and family-office investors. His pattern of board, advisory, and operating stakes in early-stage Austin spirits brands is the basis for his classification as an angel/seed-stage investor.

• Invests and advises primarily in beverage-alcohol and CPG brands, drawing on operating experience scaling Deep Eddy Vodka from ~$1.7M to ~$140M+ in revenue.
• Engagement style is operator-investor: board seats (Still Austin Whiskey), advisory roles (Pinhook, 2024), and executive leadership (Ranch Rider, Pinhook) rather than passive check-writing.
• Strong bias toward the Austin / Central Texas spirits ecosystem, where his network and credibility are concentrated.
• Value-add centers on his core competencies — finance, operations, capital raising, and scaling distribution — the disciplines he applied through Deep Eddy's Heaven Hill acquisition and Pinhook's 2025 raise.
• No publicly stated fund thesis, check-size range, or formal target profile could be verified.